Some Place Simple
by Kiraeon
Summary: It's been two and a half years, and finally, it's time to come home. Reunion fic. Spoilers for BW2. Contains multiple implied ships including totally unsubtle DualRivalShipping. One-Shot. Complete.


_This one's for **Lyra Kamiya **and** NidoranDuran/Rooster425**. You guys are horrible influences, keep it up! Now that I've gotten this out of my head, I can go back to focusing on that half-written chapter for 'Uninvited'. Expect that in the next week or so, if I'm slow on writing it!_

_**/\/\/\/\**_

"Are you sure you should be walking on it? I could-"

"Nat, I'm _fine_."

"But-"

"_Nat_," her voice was sharp, cutting through the pre-dawn air and loud enough to startle a pair of Woobat into taking flight from a nearby tree. The two stopped in their tracks, sky blue eyes staring daggers into the tall, uncomfortable young man's skull. Her voice gentled a little, softer than she'd spoken before with an understanding, if exasperated smile on her face. "I'm fine, okay? It's annoying, but I'll live." Her gaze removed itself, looking hungrily down the path that would lead her- lead _them_- home after two and a half years of searching for the green haired man at her side. Man, she thought with a private, inward chuckle, no longer someone caught between child and adult as he had been when she'd initially met him.

His hand slipped into hers, rough palm against her calloused one as she laced her fingers through his without hesitation, still staring in the direction of the place she had been raised since childhood. "I started this journey on my own two feet," the brown haired trainer explained. "I've gotta finish it that way too."

N ran his free hand through his thick, unruly hair, a habit born of agitation and anxiety that had only gotten worse when Zekrom, prior to his... unfortunate circumstances two months prior to their current moment, had decided to eat the void cube he'd usually fiddled with. _Why_ the legendary dragon had chosen to do such a thing was something even he, the Champion of Pokemon rights, couldn't even manage to figure out. Not that Zekrom was helpful in any way, shape, or form during the process. "Are you sur-"

"Nat."

"...yes?"

Her eyes met his again, the corner of the left lid twitching in a way he'd come to associate with the one warning he would get before he was going to get a smack, or a punch, to the shoulder. "If you ask me _one more time_ if taking you home is a good idea, I'm going to strangle you."

"...Touko? He asked after they'd walked about the length of a football field. Her sudden stop, coupled with the little growl he could hear, gave him the sudden inexplicable urge to laugh.

"_What_?" the question was spoken through clenched teeth.

The corners of his mouth twitched up into a smile despite his best efforts. "How long are you going to keep calling me 'Nat'?"

_**/\/\/\/\/\**_

"Mm, I see." Light green eyes narrowed ever so slightly as she leaned back in her chair. Checking the time, she sighed at the excited chattering on the other line. "So they left Accumula, when...?" More excited sounds from the other end of the phone, followed up by a _crash_ that gave the professor reason to hold the phone away from her ear. "...Fennel?" Her tone was patient as she waited for the meek, breathless researcher's voice before she continued. "You _really_ need to unpack those boxes, they're a health hazard. This is incident number fourteen in the last three days alone, your sister is going to think I'm doing something horrible to you at this rate."

A sulking girlfriend put to bed with the promise of a weekend away from the lab sometime soon, Aurea paused on her way back to the adjoined apartment that served as her home. Her assistant's desk was, as always, cluttered with papers scattered about... and the personal effects that made the desk truly her own. Hard to believe that flighty, timid little blonde had become an energetic and, at times, overly enthusiastic asset to her laboratory in two years time, she thought to herself with a shake of her head. A photograph in a flowery red and pink frame caught her attention, the three young trainers holding their Pokemon as she smiled indulgently for the camera.

_Two and a half years, I must be getting old if that much time flies without my notice._ She needed to keep better track of her calendar, that was for sure. Fennel would probably kill her if she missed their anniversary, or a birthday, for a second time in the fifteen years they'd known each other.

They had gone their separate ways since the day of that picture, Juniper thought to herself as she touched the photo of her three star trainers. Cheren found his calling as a Gym Leader, a profession she was more than happy to say fit the studious and snarky boy. He had relaxed too, a weight lifted off of his shoulders ever since he had won the right to the position from Lenora. Bel had been her biggest concern for a good, long time. Something about the sweet, but clumsy girl had reminded her a great deal of Fennel back in the early days of college. Between her father's hostile attitude towards his daughter becoming a trainer to having her Pokemon stole to watching from the sidelines while her beloved friends changed- for better or worse, Juniper had been impressed by the girl's strong will to continue trying to find herself and her purpose, even when it seemed hopeless.

Understandably, there had been some hesitation on her part to employ Bel. She hadn't gone to school, or received the proper training in order to truly be of real help to the lab... but something about those big green eyes, so desperate at the time, had managed to slip in through her iron-clad professional defenses and she'd caved. While her clumsy, flighty side had improved, it hadn't disappeared all together and she was stuck with a blonde version of Fennel; all good intentions and happy enthusiasm. And with Cheren's transfer to Aspertia City as its Gym Leader, the girl had been considerably more lonely than when she and Cheren had gotten word that their friend had gone off, alone, to pursue a mysterious man with an odd view of the world.

Her lips curved up into a playful smile as she stared at the shining, happy faces in the photograph. If Fennel was right, her two beloved troublemakers would be reunited shortly with the missing piece to their little trio.

As if on cue, her Xtransceiver chimed cheerfully into the empty building. Smile turning into a delighted grin, she answered the call the same way she always had. "Juniper Laboratory, Professor Juniper speaking." She paused a moment, letting more than a touch of warmth and fondness into her voice. "It's been a long time, Touko. How far out are you?"

_**/\/\/\/\/\/\**_

"How are you always ten minutes late for _everything_ else, but you're always early when it comes to the sunrise?" Cheren asked, fussing with his tie after an aborted attempt at shoving invisible glasses up the bridge of his nose. _Contacts, you moron, you've had them for _months_ now. Get with the program._ The dock by Bel's house always had the best view of their entire town, and had been _their_ special place to go each and every morning from the day they'd been old enough to sneak out of the house.

Unfazed by the critical tone in the black haired young man's voice, Bel shoved her glassed up the bridge of her nose and beamed at Cheren's approach. "I dunno, I'm just lucky, I guess!" She chirped happily, turning her attention back to the sea as he settled in behind her. For a moment, the bespectacled trainer made a face at the chill of his hands as she slipped them into her hoodie's pockets, holding them to warm them faster as she glanced up at him. "Your hands are _always_ cold, Cheren, why don't you wear those gloves I got you?" It was a half-hearted complaint and they both knew it. He didn't like the restriction gloves provided, finding them irritating and mildly claustrophobia inducing- and _she_ liked holding his hands in her pockets about as much as she enjoyed having his arms around her like they were at the moment. Sufficiently snuggled, they stared out into the sea together for a blissfully quiet moment.

He'd been pleasantly surprised by her lack of chatter, enjoying the quiet for what it was to absorb her warmth and to just be close to her the way he'd been unable to ever since he'd taken the job as a Gym Leader. Across that sea, he thought to himself for a moment. Rain, snow or shine; he had faithfully risen before the sun rose and walked out to the east facing pier to watch the sunrise. Too much had been changed for Cheren's liking, too much and _way_ too fast. So, it was as much for his own sanity as it was the comfortable security of having a set schedule that remained the same every day. Besides, at the risk of making him sound like a sappy, crazy romantic like Dr. Fennel, he would always feel like everything was okay when he watched the sun come up at that pier.

Because it didn't matter how far apart the three of them were; for one moment, they were all together under the same sky and watching as dawn broke over the horizon.

"Hey, Cheren?"

So much for enjoying the quiet, he thought with an internal sigh. "Yeah?"

Bel fidgeted against him in a way that wasn't unpleasant in the least. If it weren't for the solemn note in her voice, he'd have thought she wanted to head back to the little apartment she'd rented above Juniper's laboratory. Her hands squeezed his tightly for a moment, teeth worrying her lower lip as she tried to figure out what to say. "Umm... do... do you think she's okay? I mean, she hasn't sent a letter in a _month_ and she's _always_ been so good about staying in touch somehow." Her fingers brushed against his Xtransceiver, the warmed plastic and glass bulky on his slim wrist. "No emails, no calls... not even a postcard or message to Juniper with a new Pokemon for the Pokedex."

His jaw clenched at the mention of her. Memory playing back the last conversation they'd had together at the ruins of that weirdo of Team Plasma's castle.

"_I'm going after him." _

_He'd stared at her in complete and utter shock. The tears had cut a trail down her dirt and sweat streaked face, her hand raised and dashed the remnants of her grief into nothing. Her hair whipped back from her face, tossed behind her by a harsh, unforgiving wind that swept through the abandoned structure. Her attention was entirely taken by the gigantic hole blasted in the stone walls, grimy hand on the pokeball housing the dangerous Pokemon, Reshiram. In a flash of red and white light, a scream of defiance shook the very foundation of the crumbling castle as the massive white Pokemon solidified and regarded them with a haughty, regal stare._

"_You're kidding me, right?" Cheren'd managed, watched her reach up to stoke the muzzle of the Dragon type as if it were... as if it were his Stoutland. "After _everything_ he and Team Plasma put us through, you're going to just-"_

"_Cheren." _

_His name was all it took. It was all it had _ever_ taken for her to shut him up, especially when she said it like she had. That tone of voice left no room for argument, none, not unless he wanted to risk breaking something they cherished entirely too much. Touko and Reshiram both looked at him, and once again, he'd known he'd lost without even challenging her for a battle the way he'd thought to. One look in those eyes of hers, the same color as Reshiram's- now that he could see the Legendary Dragon up close- and it was decided the way every single battle had been prior._

_His fists had clenched at his side, jaw clenched hard enough he'd been surprised he hadn't cracked a molar. It wasn't fair. That sonofabitch had taken up so much of her time, had stolen her from him- from Bel too, for that matter. And she was choosing to _keep_ chasing him, like he was Bel or himself. The thought sickened him in more ways than he wanted to admit. "So, he's more important to you than Bel and I?" For once, he hadn't cared about fairness, of playing strictly by the rules the way he'd always insisted on from the very beginning. _

"_Don't be an asshole," she'd snapped at him, Reshiram's growl had filled the room with an oppressive weight. "you know damn well you're important to me, and Bel is too. Why the hell do you think I-" and just like that, she'd stopped herself in mid-sentence, her expression transitioning fluidly from heated anger and hurt to a plea for him to understand. "Cheren, please."_

_That one 'please' had been enough to break his heart where he'd stood, and her form, as well as Reshiram's, blurred with the heated sting of tears. "Tch." He'd managed a hoarse, bitter click of his tongue and nothing more, refused to look at her. If she was going to leave, he wouldn't watch. He refused to watch her race off after that bastard _again_. _

_Arms wrapped around him, and he found himself with a face full of dusty, sweaty smelling hair that still managed to have just the faintest hint of her favorite shampoo. The lump in his throat had thickened to the point of painful and he drew a sharp, shaky breath between his teeth as her grip tightened on him. His best friend had been trembling, his own hands had shook as he'd lifted stone-heavy arms to grab her too. She'd felt so thin, so fragile and breakable at that point. Nothing at all like the powerful, spirited woman who'd just stared at him while petting a legendary dragon. _

"_I need you to understand." She'd told him in a voice barely raised above a whisper. "I have to bring him back."_

"_I'll go too." He'd told her, desperate to hold on to her as long as possible. "We can grab Bel along the way and-"_

"_She won't go."_

_His heart had nearly stopped. "W-What? Don't be ridiculous, of course she'll go. You're going, I'm going, so she'll have no choice but to go too-"_

"_Cheren. I talked to her already." Her voice was muffled, head against his shoulder. "She told me to do what I had to, and she'd be waiting for me to come back."_

_And just like that, any argument he'd had prepared disappeared._

_He'd had to let her go, watched as she'd flown off to nothing but a blazing white speck quickly swallowed up by the distant horizon. The head in his face, the sting in his eyes had remained until he'd returned, defeated, back to Nuvema Town to deliver the bad news to Bel, and to ask her why she hadn't fought to keep Touko there with them, where she belonged._

_Bel had been there, waiting, with her silly little beret clenched tightly in both hands in front of the gate leading up to his front door. He'd rounded the corner before he'd seen her, and she stepped out on to the hard packed dirt road in front of his mailbox to meet him. He'd been unable to look at her, feet refused to take him any closer than the corner of his family's property. _

_There was a blurry yellow pair of shoes in his vision, in front of his sneakers, and then there was a warm, soft body squished against his own. "I know." She'd whispered as her arms had wrapped around his waist, pulled him closer to her and just held him. "I know." The tears leaking into his white shirt had betrayed her steady sounding voice, and his arms had wrapped around her just as tightly, just as fiercely as he bent his head to rest against hers. _

"This is Touko we're talking about; I'm sure she's fine." _Probably getting herself into more trouble than I care to think about. She's never been the kind to mind her own damn business. "_Where was the last one from?" He asked, finally ripping himself from the past and back to reality. His own correspondence with their friend had been... spotty, to say the least. There was very little he could say in a letter that wasn't "Get back here where you belong" or "Had another challenger at the Gym today, what idiot brings a newly hatched Snivy against an experienced Herdier?" Touko herself had been more faithful than he, sending letters even when she hadn't received a response back from him.

"Umm..." There was a moment of silence, and the withdrawal of a hand that made him frown. A crinkle of paper reached his ears as she pulled out the folded, crumpled piece of paper from a pocket in her pants. Somehow, that was just... like her to keep at least one letter on her at all times. Part of him felt guilty for the stack he had, sitting untouched in a box after the first three times he'd read them. "Sootopolis City, I think." Cheren muttered something under his breath that _might_ have been something along the lines of "that's a stupid name for a city." before she shushed him and continued skimming the contents of the letter.

"Well?" He squinted, unable to get a particularly good look at the small, haphazard scrawl that was Touko's handwriting from around a head full of thick, fluffy blonde hair.

"Yeah, it was Sootopolis." She turned the letter over, reading the back of it.

Sometimes, Bel managed to edge out Touko for the honor of being the most irritating woman he'd ever known. Cheren countered to ten, silently, and picked the least offensive of the three things he'd thought of to say. "Let me guess, the post office over in Hoenn just happens to forget to stamp it with the time and date."

Bel twisted a little in his arms, enough that he could the face she made at him. "You're _so_ grumpy early in the morning," she complained. "maybe you should eating breakfast or drinking coffee."

"I don't like bitter drinks, you know that." She didn't have to look to know he was making a face too. "Besides, I get nauseous when I eat first thing in the morning."

Another wrinkle of her nose. "So add some sugar to the coffee, it'll make it taste better- and it might make _you_ sweeter too."

He opened his mouth to retaliate, and in a moment of wisdom, shut it again. Maybe he _did_ need to start drinking coffee in the morning, it might make his brain halfway functional again and not automatically fall back to those absolutely asinine pick up lines that Chili had tried to teach him. _Somehow, I don't think Bel would like being told I'd rather eat _her_ first thing in the morning, even as a joke._ "She say anything useful?"_ Or was it full of all the sights she's seen on her neverending quest to find her stupid boyfriend?_ Once again, wisdom proved itself to be golden, and he didn't add that as a second question.

Bel's voice had changed a little, more wistful than before. "She wants to bring us there, the view is _super_ cool and breathtaking." She went quiet again, much to his dismay. "Says the sunrise is almost as good as the one h-here..."

Cheren nearly groaned, suspicions confirmed with the hitch in the chubby girl's voice, and pulled her closer against him in an admittedly awkward hug. He hadn't had the heart to tell her that a certain sonofabitch who wouldn't be named was back in the region. Mostly because he didn't want her running off and losing yet _another_ friend to some wandering asshole who couldn't keep his feet planted in one spot for more than three minutes at a time. The rest had to do with a sincere hope that he would _stay_ in Unova, and thus give Touko a chance to catch up with him... or make her give up all together.

Personally, he was a much bigger fan of the latter choice.

"What else? Anything about finding that lost child kidnapped by a wicked dragon?" _That sentence sounded better in my head._ Cheren thought to himself with a frown. He made a mental note to improve upon his sarcastic remarks, he'd been slipping in quality lately. Must have been because of her influence, he was less snarky the longer he spent time with the blonde sniffling against his arms.

But, the remark had its intended effect, a quiet giggle reaching his ears as she turned around, letter back into her pocket as she wrapped her arms around his waist. His old glasses slipped down the bridge of her nose as her big green eyes glanced up at him though long, pale lashes. "You're being mean again," there was a distinct lack of accusation in her tone as she leaned into him, chin resting on his chest.

His eyes narrowed suspiciously. "You're not wearing any make-up, are you? That crap is such a pain to get out."

An impish looking smile that made her look about twelve years old again appeared on her lips. "Maybe, wanna find out?"

From missing Touko to the point she was ready to cry, to suddenly being flirty with him. _I will never understand how a woman's emotions work, there's no rhyme or reason to it, and they change faster than Elesa at one of her absurd fashion shows._ "Are you challenging me?" He asked, voice lowering an octave as he looked into her eyes.

Her head tilted _just_ a bit, eyelids lowering ever so slightly at the deeper timbre of his voice as her smile turned from impish to something a little more coy. "Maaaybe," Bel's voice sang out, dropping in volume too as she leaned back a little. "wanna find o-"

Never one to let a challenge go by unaccepted, Cheren removed one of his hands from her hoodie pocket, gently tilting her head back before leaning in to cut the rest of that infuriating little taunt of hers short. Her mouth was as sweet as he'd remembered it, sweeter and warmer than what he dreamed when they spent long stretches of time away from one another. He drew away only because he needed to make sure she remembered to breathe, Bel clinging to his mouth for as long as possible before they separated. "...you _are_ wearing lipstick." He complained, stepping back and swiping his thumb across his lips to wipe away the sticky remnants.

As always, she laughed at him, clapping her small hands together in delight as she watched him fish around in his pockets for a tissue or something to wipe it off on. "Lip_gloss_," Bel corrected, still giggling. "there's a difference, Cheren."

"It's sticky and a pain in the ass to wipe off," he retorted sourly, finally accepting a tissue from the girl when he couldn't find one of his own. Must have been in the other pair of jeans. "and I don't see the point; it's just a bunch of stupid mass media marketing crap that thrives on making money off of gullib-"

Still giggling, the petite blonde closed the distance between them and stood on tip toe to press a kiss against the corner of his mouth, his chin and nibbled her way back up to his lower lip. Drawing back before he could kiss her again, she skipped back a couple of steps and stuck her tongue out at him. "You complain too much sometimes," she teased. "besides, it makes my lips stay soft even when it's cold out like this."

"Your lips are soft _anyway_, don't give me that crap." Cheren muttered, giving the pink cheeked girl a half-hearted scowl as she reached out to grab his hand. "You're fishing for compliments again- and _don't_ 'maybe' me, you know you are." His eyes moved from her to the dawn breaking over the town itself in brilliant shades of pink and gold. A wry smile touched his mouth as he stood there beside her, watching the sun bring light and warmth to a cold, dark town.

"Pretty," Bel sighed, leaning into his side and clinging to his arm. "I love this."

He made some sound of agreement, free hand in his pocket as he watched everything change in front of him the way it did every morning. As he'd thought, seeing the sunrise over Nuvema with Bel was special... but it was still missing something.

Still missing _someone_.

"Cheren?" A tug on his arm caused him to look down, blinking twice to clear his thoughts away from where they'd been going. She smiled at him, understanding where his thoughts had gone. The suspiciously over-bright sheen in her eyes hinted that her mind had come to a similar conclusion. "Let's go home, okay? I'll make breakfast."

He found a smile, somewhere, and nodded. "Alright, sounds good." Truth be told, he wanted to climb back into bed and just sleep for the next six hours. He calculated the exact chance he'd have at convincing her to join him for a little while and was unsurprised at the result. She loved having someone to snuggle up with, always had since they were kids. Every sleepover they'd had, she'd always been in the middle with her hands grabbing theirs until she fell asleep.

That hadn't changed, she still needed someone's hand to hold until she fell asleep.

The walk back to Juniper's laboratory was quieter than normal, the two of them lost in their own thoughts and memories. Reaching the lab itself, he waited for Bel to rummage around in her purse for her house keys. Again; some things just didn't change, he thought with a sigh and shake of his head, giving her frantically searching form a small, patient smile. He occupied himself with studying the paint on the lab. How Professor Juniper kept it from flaking with the sea breeze all around them was something he'd never gotten to ask her. She could have it painted, he reasoned, but it would be an absurd waste of money to keep doing that. Salt resistant paint, maybe? If there was such a thing, anyway.

The jangle of keys hitting the dirt jarred his attention back to Bel. Cheren opened his mouth to tease her for being so clumsy and unorganized for being an esteemed assistant... and stopped at the look on her face and the way her hands seemed to tremble. "...Bel?" His voice was sharp, mind racing as he cursed himself for leaving his Pokeballs in her bedroom. Maybe her Musharna was awake and would respond to the sound of his voice, she liked him enough to listen every once in a while. "_Bel."_

"C-Cheren..." Her eyes welled up as her hands raised up, fingers pressed against the lower lip that trembled in the way it always did when she was about to burst into tears. Before he could say anything, she removed one hand from her mouth, wordlessly pointing to something behind him.

He turned, and felt the whole world come to an abrupt stop.

Two figures walked hand in hand toward them, the rising sun behind them turning their bodies into black figures with shadows that stretched out ahead of them. The smaller of the two hobbled a bit, something on their right foot unevenly distributing weight with each step. Her companion was a tall, thin man who walked beside her quietly. When she stopped walking, he reluctantly released his hold on her hand and took a half-step away from the exhausted, but happy brunette.

He too found himself smiling at the others' reactions, though it was a touch uncertain as his weary eyes darted from Bel's face to Cheren's. Of her own free will, she had left everything, and everyone, behind in order to chase him across the world after everything he had put her, and her friends, through. She had found him again, reunited thanks to a young man with a kind smile and his best friend at the place where their paths had truly diverged.

N watched her walk a couple more steps toward them, knew she was sizing them up, committing every change, every difference in them and comparing them to her last memories of them before she'd left. He had taken her away from them for more than two years, had forced them all to look at themselves and see the truth compared to the ideal they had build themselves up as.

It was only right that he bring her back to them.

Touko's voice was thick, husky sounding as she tried to clear the lump from her throat. "Hey guys, I'm back," Sky blue eyes filled with tears, the truth finally hitting home and hitting hard. Her journey, her quest and her mission was _over_. There was nothing more left she had to do as the so-called Hero of Unova; she could come home and just be Touko again. A strangled sounding laugh escaped at the realization, of the desperate weight finally lifted completely off of her shoulders. "I'm _home. _I-"

Bel's arms around her neck cut off whatever she'd been about to say, the round faced girl's glasses knocked to the ground alongside her hat as she sobbed into her best friend's neck. Cheren was close behind, his arms wrapping around them both, needing to hold them both as close to him as he possible could. For once, and _only_ once, he didn't give a good goddamn about how cool and professional he looked, didn't care about maintaining an image.

She was home.

She was back in his arms, in _their_ arms, where she belonged.


End file.
